Dirty code still runs — but that’s not a good thing

Organizations understand the importance of code in today’s business landscape. We rely on software to power our daily lives — the global market is projected to grow to nearly $1.6 trillion within the next decade. Developers are feeling the pressure from this, with the increased push to write more code every day. However, this does not mean that the development of high-quality and error-free code should be sacrificed to meet the demands of increased software delivery. 

Developers are increasingly using testing in the continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) pipeline to produce high-quality code. The problem is that these reviews aren’t always the right kind. The lack of proper reviews and analysis within the CI/CD pipeline pushes software to production that’s rooted in poor-quality code. That problematic code runs… but not on a solid foundation, and that’s not a good thing.

As developers reuse and build on that low-quality code, it perpetuates a vicious cycle. Teams waste time fixing original, recycled code snippets or, in some cases, push it through despite quality issues. All this exacerbates technical debt, an expensive and unsustainable problem for businesses to grapple with.

The solution to this involves not just frequent testing, but testing that ensures clean code. Writing consistent, adaptable, intentional and responsible code prevents new issues, reduces pain points, improves collaboration and leads to better software and strong business outcomes. Incorporating the right testing and analysis is a win-win.

Machines May Not Care About Clean Code — But People Should

Our dependence on software correlates with our dependence on code. The problem is that software-operated machines don’t care about the quality of the code, so long as it continues to run. They don’t consider its quality and readability, nor developers’ ability to understand and reuse it later. Operational code doesn’t even have to be secure for it to keep the lights on.

Code must go beyond bare functionality, especially with the growing AI use. Research shows nearly 36% of Copilot-generated code contained critical weaknesses across various programming languages. That’s why GitHub emphasizes that individual developers are responsible for ensuring code quality and security before deployment.

Developers understand AI coding assistants can help them keep up with increasing business demands and boost productivity. Where they fall short is maintaining quality. While teams universally include unit testing into the CI/CD pipeline as a way to check AI-generated code, the reality is that unit testing alone only analyzes functionality — not quality.

Deploying software that has only undergone unit testing can certainly function, but its poor quality can create a negative domino effect, causing long-term issues and rework. Functionality isn’t enough; preventing problems from the start is crucial to avoid resource and financial costs.

Code Doesn’t End With One Project

Developers are always looking for ways to boost productivity and reuse what they’ve already built to improve, add on, or create new projects. As business demands pressure these teams to deliver at a higher, faster rate, the need to be efficient has only increased.

However, when clean, quality code that’s secure isn’t prioritized, there can be lasting effects. The impact may not be felt immediately, but over time, bad code becomes insidious to software. For example, the average developer already spends 21+ hours a week debugging, refactoring and fixing bad code at a total of $85 million annually worldwide in opportunity cost. Poor-quality code will exacerbate the amount of time and the cost of fixing it when originally used, and then reused in other projects.

Developer turnover exacerbates the issue: when a developer leaves to pursue a new role, their code could very well cause long-term catastrophic problems, even years later. If guardrails for sustainable clean code weren’t implemented it can be a struggle to decipher through their old code.

When developers reuse poor-quality code, they’re dismantling a business’ software foundation from the inside. Software powers businesses today, and issues with it can threaten profits, reputation and security. With the cost of poor software quality estimated to be at least $2.4 trillion, neither developers nor businesses can afford to ignore the problem of bad code.

Clean Code Ensures Quality and Relieves Developer Pain Points

Business outages, security issues, poor application performance — these issues stem from bad code. Clean code, however, empowers developers and businesses to push out updates and deploy software with the confidence that it isn’t built on a crumbling foundation. It can and will perform over time.

Quality code benefits developers by minimizing the time and effort spent on patching and refactoring later. Having confidence that code is clean also enhances collaboration, allowing developers to more easily reuse code from colleagues or AI tools. This not only simplifies their work but also reduces the need for retroactive fixes and helps prevent and lower technical debt.

To deliver clean code, it’s important to note that developers should start with the right guardrails, tests, and analysis from the beginning, in the IDE. Pairing unit testing with static analysis can also guarantee quality. The sooner these reviews happen in the development process, the better.

Investment in Clean Code Delivers Results

Developers and businesses can’t afford to perpetuate the cycle of bad code and, consequently, subpar software. Pushing poor-quality code through to development will only reintroduce software that breaks down later, even if it seems to run fine in the interim. To end the cycle, developers must deliver software built on clean code before deploying it. 

By implementing effective reviews and tests that gatekeep bad code before it becomes a major problem, developers can better equip themselves to deliver software with both functionality and longevity. Investment in quality code offers dividends from multiple perspectives: it reduces costly tech debt while freeing up developer resources and supporting collaboration. Only by working with the best quality code can businesses ensure their developers can work at their highest potential, and deliver software with the functionality and longevity that drives impactful business results.

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